The Secret Formula
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Monday July 24th, 2006
You non-artists out there might wonder how a great performance is spawned (or at least a mediocre one by my own self-assessment)? Here’s one week’s solution to this question:
Tuesday
11am-1pm rehearsal (Marlboro, VT) for Bartok Quartet #3
2-4pm rehearsal for Beethoven Archduke trio
4-4:30pm listen to balance in concert hall for group playing Dvorak f minor piano
trio
6pm run through Mozart G Major concerto for friend
6:30pm begin driving to NYC
11pm arrive (after driving through torrential storm) at home NYC
Wednesday
12:15am fall asleep
3:15am alarm rings
4am catch car service to Penn Station
4:40am take train to Baltimore
7:30am arrive Baltimore
8:00am check-in hotel
8:45am leave for radio station
9am radio interview
11:45-12:30pm rehearse Mozart concerto with orchestra
1:30-2:30pm rehearse Mozart with orchestra
2:30-3:30pm internet interview
7-9:30pm dinner with conductor
10pm collapse
Thursday
9am breakfast with conductor
10:30-11:30am rehearse Mozart with orchestra
12:30-2:30pm lunch with conductor and principal oboist
6pm leave for Strathmore hall (45 min. drive)
7-7:15pm soundcheck in hall
8pm perform Mozart concerto
10:30pm dinner
Friday
12:30am return to hotel
11am-1pm lunch with conductor
2-4pm teach lesson
6:30pm leave for concert hall
6:40-6:50pm soundcheck in hall
7:30pm perform Mozart concerto
8:20pm CD signing
8:50pm leave for train station
9:12pm take train to NYC
Saturday
12:45am arrive home NYC
9am drive to Marlboro
12:30pm arrive Marlboro
2-4pm rehearsal (Marlboro) Beethoven Archduke trio
4-6pm rehearsal with composer for Dalbavie horn trio
8:30-10:30pm attend concert
Sunday
9-11am rehearse Bartok Quartet #3
11am-12pm rehearse Beethoven Archduke trio
2:30pm perform Beethoven Archduke trio
OK, I admit that the conductor is a good friend of mine. It wasn’t all business. I just thought it looked more impressive.
In the open time slots fill in mostly with practicing the Mozart as well as 24 Paganini caprices (ok, not all 24 of them but a bunch) – and then a load of laundry, chasing down some undelivered dry cleaning, twice-daily showers because of the heat, returning half of my phone calls and emails (sorry to the other half), dressing for concert, packing, wishing my mom a happy birthday, and keeping track of Middle East events on CNN. No wonder my fantasy baseball team is a joke.
This probably won’t phase the musicians out there. For the rest of you, that is the recipe for some (hopefully sometimes great) Beethoven and Mozart.